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Taiwan and South Korea call for 'comfort women' apology

18 November 2008, 00:00 UTC

The Taiwanese parliament passed a resolution on 11 November calling on the Government of Japan to accept historical responsibility and apologise to the victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery system. This follows a resolution passed in South Korea on 27 October.
In 2007, the US, EU, Netherlands, and Canada all passed resolutions calling on the Government of Japan to restore the dignity of those women who were drafted into military sexual slavery before and during World War II. The Taiwan and South Korea resolutions are significant as many of the "comfort women" came from these countries.
In Japan, the Takarazuka City Council in Osaka passed a resolution on 28 March calling on the Government of Japan to address the issue of the "comfort women" system. On 25 June, the Kiyose City Council in Tokyo followed suit. On 7 November, Sapporo City Council, Hokkaido, passed a similar resolution.
"These resolutions are a call for action from the Japanese government” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director, “The Japanese government should recognize that the world will not forget the abuses inflicted by the ‘comfort women’ system. The Japanese government should apologize for its actions now and move forward".